Brief Interlude
by amaresu
Summary: Nabiki finds out what Ranma does at night. Crossover with Devil-Hunter Yohko


Title: Brief Interludes  
Genre: Crossover with Ranma ½ and Devil Hunter Yohko  
Summary: Nabiki discovers why Ranma's been staying out at night  
A/N: No beta'ing. Sorry. Just an idea I got. Silly, but have you ever noticed that most of the Devil Hunters are women? The ones with the special powers anyway.  
  
With a weary sigh he cut down the last of the demons. He looked up to the sky to see the sun just starting to peek over the horizon. Shit. With a burst of speed he didn't know he had he raced home. Damn it. Those things had kept him from noticing how late it was. With a start he realized that he was running through a city just beginning to wake up, in attire that he'd rather not have to answer questions about. With a thought he dispelled the outfit and returned to his normal sleeping clothes. With a sigh he spotted the dojo up ahead. Gathering his strength he leapt to the roof and crawled over to his window and jumped into the room. Hopping over the panda he laid down on his futon. As he closed his eyes he couldn't help but hope that the panda slept in by accident. It'd be nice to actually sleep for more than a few hours in his bed.  
  
With a groan of frustration he flew through the open window ten minutes later. Stupid panda. Landing he took up a defensive position and began his morning spar. Ranma couldn't help but wonder what would happen if one day he didn't make it back in the window in time. Before he could continue that train of thought his father came flying at him and the fight began. And ended five minutes later with the costmary splashes.   
  
  
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Nabiki rounded the corner of the building. There he was, just like she'd been told he would be. Standing back so as not to breathe in any dust she started talking. "Now then what exactly did you do to end up with eraser duty? Judging by the size of the pile they gave you all of the erasers in the school."  
  
Ranma jumped when she started talking and then gave a grin. "Yep, every last one. I had to go collect them all myself. Seems they don't like it when I sleep through all of my classes."  
  
"Now then, maybe if you stayed home at night you wouldn't have such a hard time staying awake." Nabiki smiled at Ranma's expression. Like a deer in headlights. It disappeared as he got over his shock.  
  
"I don't know whatcha talking about. I was home all night."  
  
"Sure you were. That's why I saw you running up to the house this morning. From the way you moved I got the impression that you did that a lot." Nabiki lost her smile. "Now tell me why I shouldn't go and tell my little sister that you were out all night?"  
  
Ranma's expression turned to one of fright and then it went stony. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. He handed her 50,000 yen. "I can get you another couple thousand yen by tonight. If you promise not to mention it again I'll even poise for pictures. Whatever you want."  
  
Nabiki pushed his hand away in disgust. Despite appearances there were some things she considered above money. Her family was one of them. "No, you can't just pay me some money and expect me to turn a blind eye. Who was it? Ukyou? Shampoo? Why the hell are you cheating on my sister?"   
  
"Neither. I ain't cheating on her." Ranma got a speculative look in his eye. "Nothing's gonna solve this except you hearing the truth is it?" at her nod he shook his head. "Fine, let me finish this first than we can go somewhere private." With a burst of supernatural speed, at least to those who hadn't ever seen him fight, Ranma finished the pile of erasers in a matter of minutes. With a gesture for her to wait there he picked them up and ran into the school.   
  
Just when Nabiki was beginning to wonder if he'd run away he landed on the ground in front of her. "Sorry, had to put 'em back. Now lead the way to somewhere we can talk in private."  
  
Nodding her head she turned around and led the way. She'd thought about the best place to take him and decided on her room, no one would dare to interrupt them there. As she lead the way back to the dojo a thought occurred to her. "Saotome, I don't know where you got that money, but give it to me. That was enough to completely cover your debt." Sighing he complied.   
  
They walked the rest of the way in silence. Quietly they walked into the house and up the stairs before anyone could see them and ask uncomfortable questions. With an expectant look on her face Nabiki closed and locked her door. She turned around to look at Ranma. He was standing in the middle of her room, looking rather uncomfortable. She gestured for him to take the desk chair and then sat on her bed. "Okay. What's your story?"  
  
"This is going to be pretty long, and if we didn't live in Nerima I'd tell you you'd have a hard time believing it. Now first off, you do not say anything about what I'm about to tell you unless I give you permission first. Understood?" He waited until he had her hesitant nod before continuing. "Okay, to start I'm going to tell you something about myself that only two other people in the world know. Neither of whom you know. When I was a kid I used to dream about becoming a devil-hunter."  
  
"What like running around in those silly outfits and killing demons and stuff?" Nabiki asked as she struggled to keep her laughter in.  
  
Nodding his head Ranma continued. "Yeah, just like that. Me and my friends, the ones I mentioned, used to pretend that we were devil-hunters out to save the world. Imagine my feelings when I figured out that you had to be a girl to be a devil-hunter." He held up his hand to stop her from interrupting. "Now think about it, how many men do you see as devil-hunters? I've never seen one that wasn't one because of weapons and technology. I've heard rumors, but nothing concrete. I'm the first to admit that I'm not in touch with the majority of the devil-hunter community, but at the very least women make up a good ninety percent of them. I was about ten when I realized this. As a result I threw myself into martial arts for a different reason than before. Before I had been so eager to learn everything so that I'd be able to be the best devil-hunter ever. I'd protect humanity and the world from the evil creatures that existed only to destroy it. Now I'd decided that if I couldn't be a devil-hunter I'd be the best martial artist in the world and protect all the good people in the world from the evil ones. I became the martial artist that protected the civilians while the Devil Hunters killed the demons in our games.   
  
"Well, years went by and I stopped seeing my friends on a regular basis. And then me and pops left the country for two years. The longest we'd been away yet. That trip ended at Jusenkyo. Now I'd almost completely forgotten about my childhood dreams by this point. I mean pops didn't exactly foster an environment that was good for fantasizing and such. Now here's where it starts to get a bit weird." Ranma stopped talking for a minute to get his thoughts in order.  
  
"It was while we were still in China. We'd hid out from Shampoo in some city or another and pops disappeared for a few days to get some money. I was pretty much on my own for a bit. It was a wonderful week. Rained every single day. I'd been having some weird dreams ever since Jusenkyo; I still don't remember much of them. I was always just left with the impression of having been told a great many things and having hour long conversations. Every once in a while a snippet of those dreams will come to me. Just what I needed at certain times. Like the location of the vault. But that comes later.   
  
"Anyways I was wandering aimlessly through the city and all of a sudden I was attacked by a demon. Of course I didn't know that it was a demon at that point in time. It came at me and I remember shouting out 'Ranma Saotome, 102nd generation devil-hunter. And then I was wearing some incredibly revealing clothing and basically proceeded to kick the demons butt. It was really fun."  
  
Nabiki looked at Ranma like he was insane. "So let me get this straight. You're a devil-hunter. And last night you were out hunting demons and such?"  
  
"Got it in one."  
  
"I'm assuming that there's more to this story than just that. Like that vault you mentioned earlier. Do continue with this story. Not that I believe a word of it, but I'm waiting to hear what you come up with next." Nabiki raised an eyebrow and looked at him with anticipation.  
  
"Didn't expect you to believe me right off the bat. Not a whole lot more to tell. Me and pops got back to Japan and I ended up fighting devils and demons and other creatures of the night all the way to Tokyo. On the way we passed through a little town on the outskirts of Tokyo. Actually around would be a better word. Pops refused to go near the place. If we could have gone on I think he would have made us. But it was raining and around midnight. I think he was hoping to get by the town before it got too late. Only do to the complete lack of visibility we were forced to stop. When pops fell asleep I followed this feeling I had and went to a house on the edge of town. I rang the doorbell and a woman that looked almost as old as Cologne answered the door. She then said, 'Ranma I've awaited you're arrival.'  
"I just stood there wondering how she knew my name. She ushered me into the house and led me to the sitting room. There she, well she told me a number of things, but for the most part she told me that she was the 101st generation of devil-hunters in the Saotome clan and that she had been losing hope that there would be a 102nd. It seemed that a devil had put a curse on her blood line, that they would bear only boys. And boys can't be devil-hunters. Even though she watched me with interest as soon as my presence became known to her."  
  
"Hold it, how did she watch you?" Nabiki asked. Certain that she'd found a hole in his story.  
  
"The astral plain. She'd had a dream about me when I was about twelve and took an interest in my life. She told me that there were many point that'd she'd been ashamed to have pops as her great-grandson. She told me that if I'd been born a girl I'd've been the best damn devil-hunter ever. That's a direct quote." Ranma gave Nabiki one of his patented Saotome grins. "It was Jusenkyo that'd given her hope. Here I was, now a female. Maybe only temporally, but female none the less. And she'd been right. Seems we'd been having conversations in my dreams. But anyways, she said that she'd been waiting for someone to come to take over her task. And she wanted to see me in person. Then she died."  
  
Nabiki looked at Ranma in shock as a single tear made its way down his cheek. He must have cared a great deal for the woman to cry for her. She gave a start as he continued his story. "She seemed to shrink. Even more. After she died. It was heartbreaking. A few seconds later a man stepped out of the shadows. He turned out to be my uncle. He took her away. I was left alone in the room and suddenly I knew. I walked over to the wall and taped a few knotholes in the wood and a door opened. Inside was the storeroom of the Saotome devil-hunters. I spent most of the night in there. And several nights since."  
  
"So that's your story?" Nabiki asked. At his nod she said three words. "So prove it."  
  
Ranma looked at her in confusion, and then nodded his head. He closed his eyes for a second then was briefly distorted by something that resembled a wave and when it was gone he was different. His clothing most noticeably. Where before he'd been wearing his normal black Chinese pants and red shirt he was now wearing loose black pants that were gathered at his ankles. His shirt was red and looked as though it was spray painted on. Nabiki stared for a few seconds before tearing her eyes away and mentally berating herself. He was wearing soft, black slippers with what looked like Sanskrit characters of protection embroidered in red on them. Beyond the clothing change he seemed to radiate power. Before she could say anything he grabbed the bottle of water of her desk and dropped it on his head. The wave affect came again and now he was a she. She was wearing a dress just as tight, if not tighter, than the shirt had been. It was an eye bending swirl of red and black. Almost as if the colours were fighting each other. Nabiki raised an eyebrow at the thigh high slights that ran up the sides of the dress. They were almost to Ranma's waist. Ranma was still wearing the same slippers though. Nabiki looked up at Ranma's face and almost laughed out loud. There dangling from her ears were a nice set of yin-yang earrings. With rows of earrings running up the rest of each ear. Nabiki squinted at them, they looked like quartz, but they seemed to almost glow. "Okay, I believe you. No one would walk around, let alone fight, dressed like that unless they were a devil-hunter. I also know that you left out a large portion of your story. You don't have to tell me. It's obviously personal."  
  
Ranma stared at her and then mentally hit himself. He'd know Nabiki wasn't always a cold-hearted mercenary, but sometimes she took him by surprise. "Thanks Nabiki. You won't tell anyone right?"  
  
"No, I won't tell. Though, I don't understand why you want to keep it a secret." Nabiki gave him a speculative look.  
  
"Think about it Nabiki. What would Akane, Ukyou, and Shampoo do if they found out?"  
  
"They'd want to help you." Nabiki said slowly and then she grinned. She knew Ranma's fiancées, "And more likely than not they'd just get in the way and cause more problems than anything else."  
  
Ranma smiled at her. Then the wave distortion came again and he was back to normal girl form. "Glad you understand."  
  
  
A/N: That's it. Just a brief moment of quirkiness that hit me. 


End file.
